Script to Screen: Ghost Light

By Jon Preddle

One of the more intelligent and complex stories ever to appear on
Doctor Who is Marc Platt's Ghost Light. Like most of the stories
in the McCoy era, the serial's first edit over-ran the standard episode
duration. This necessitated severe editing of the recorded material.

Marc Platt's fascinating essay on the creation of the serial in Ghost
Light - The Scripts (Titan Books, 1993), details some of the scenes edited
from the story, both before and after production, including many from the third
episode. However there are many others which were recorded but later edited out.

This guide to the Ghost Light cuts is based on a video recording of
the first edits for the second and third episodes (the rough edit of episode
one on the tape has no extra footage).

Platt's novelisation of Ghost Light appears to be an amalgamation of
several drafts of the story, together with new sequences specifically written
for the book. Page numbers for the novel are quoted where applicable.

An extended version might have been released on BBC Video were it not for
the fact that the original master recordings containing the extra footage were
wiped soon after the story was made, and the surviving copies - such as the one
used for this article - are time-coded and are not of broadcast quality.
However many of these cut or extended sequences appear as extras on the 2005
DVD release of the story, and are noted accordingly.

Duration Timings:

TV

Tape

Extra

Part 1

24'17"

24'17"

-

Part 2

24'18"

27'59"

3'41"

Part 3

24'17"

27'30"

3'13"

PART ONE

Ghost Light - The Scripts and the excellent Archive feature
in DWM 190 cover much of what was cut from the scripts both before and after
the story was recorded.

An early scene had the Doctor and Ace, still in the observatory where the
TARDIS has landed, activating the surveillance systems and being 'watched' by
Josiah. Another cut was of the Doctor playing a 'boogie-woogie' on the piano to
Reverend Matthews just before Josiah's entrance.

PART TWO

After the recap, the first edit picks up from where Ace backs away
from the advancing husks:

(NIMROD SLOWLY WAKES ON THE FLOOR)CONTROL: Run, Ratkin, run. Get away!
(ACE RUNS TO THE TUNNEL BUT THE DOOR IS CLOSED. SHE HAMMERS ON IT)CONTROL: Fetch!
(THE HUSKS ADVANCE. ACE BACKS TO THE DOOR)ACE: You don't frighten me!
(THE HUSKS CLOSE IN)ACE: Doctor!

{Novel, page 76}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

Before Gwendoline enters the study:

(AN EXTERIOR SHOT OF THE HOUSE, WITH LIGHTNING FLASHES. THE DOCTOR ENTERS
THE STUDY. HE EXAMINES THE BLAZING FIRE, THEN CROSSES TO THE DESK. HE SNATCHES
UP SOMETHING AND DARTS FOR THE DOOR, JUST AS GWENDOLINE ENTERS)

{Novel, Page 79}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After Gwendoline's line 'after he saw what was in the cellar':

DOCTOR: Gwendoline. Do you know where Ace is?

{Novel, page 80}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After Ace's line 'I'll sort you lot out!':

NIMROD: Come here. They won't dare come near the core.ACE: Why? What are they afraid of?
(UPSTAIRS, LADY PRITCHARD LISTENS AT THE ELEVATOR SHAFT DOOR...)

{Novel, page 77}

Before Ace's line 'Let us go or I'll smash it!':

(ACE HOLDS A STICK OVER THE GLOWING GLOBE)ACE: Call them off or I smash it up!CONTROL: No! Hide me!NIMROD: Put it down. You don't know what that is in there.ACE: I mean it, Tarzan. I'll do it!CONTROL: No letting it out. Light burning with angriness.

{Novel, page 78}

After Mrs Pritchard's line 'It's this Doctor. Filling your head with his
ideas.':

Between Josiah's lines 'most of Southern England in a firestorm' and 'Drive
in the crystal rods', a scene lasting about 40 seconds set in Redver's room:

REDVERS: Not much time left. It'll soon be light.
(GWENDOLINE ENTERS)GWENDOLINE: Mr Fenn-Cooper.REDVERS: So you've seen Redvers too. Where are they holding the poor
devil? I know he's close by.GWENDOLINE: I am lost. So lost and alone.REDVERS: Redvers got used to loneliness in the bush. He understands.GWENDOLINE: I cannot find my mother. I'm sure she was here.REDVERS: Don't be alarmed. Redvers Fenn-Cooper always escapes in the
end. He knows where the greatest secret of all is hidden. It sleeps in the
depths of the Interior. And it must never be woken.

SMITH: Reverend Matthews. I thought you would amuse me. But you bore
me just as much as you did before. (HE COUGHS)

Then Gwendoline enters - as on TV.

{Novel, page 99}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After the Doctor's line 'Yes, especially when roused':

DOCTOR: Which is exactly what is eluding me at the moment.
(HE CROSSES TO THE DOOR AND EXITS, CLOSELY FOLLOWED BY MACKENZIE)

Inserted at this point is the short shot of Control's arm emerging from the
lift shaft.

(THE DOCTOR RE-ENTERS THE STUDY, NOW CARRYING A TRAY. MACKENZIE IS MUNCHING ON A SANDWICH)DOCTOR: I'm busy, Inspector.MACKENZIE: And I have my investigations to complete
(THE DOCTOR WIPES SPIT FROM HIS JACKET)DOCTOR: Still not found the mustard?

Continues with the Doctor's line 'Since I awoke you, you have consumed...'

{Novel, pages 104-105}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

Control listens at the door, and hears the first line of the scene inside
the study as a voice-over, but the scene originally started earlier, involving
about 20 seconds more dialogue before the Doctor's line 'The fang of the cave
bear calls you, Nimrod', so the line Control over-hears has changed:

(CONTROL MOVES TO THE DOOR)NIMROD: (VOICE ONLY) I am the memory-teller of our tribe...
(INSIDE THE STUDY)NIMROD: ...I keep the embers of each story in my mind so that they burn
fresh with each telling.MACKENZIE: Good lord.DOCTOR: I've triggered him off somehow.
(THE DOCTOR SHOWS NIMROD THE SACRED TOOTH)NIMROD: The fang of the cave bear...

{Novel, pages 106-107}

After Redvers' line 'The Doctor did that hours ago', an extra 12 seconds:

REDVERS: Redvers only wears it against the cold of the night air.
(HE STOPS AS THE DOOR HANDLE RATTLES. THE SCENE CUTS TO OUTSIDE THE CORRIDOR AS
MACKENZIE TRIES TO OPEN THE DOOR. GIVING UP, HE WALKS OFF DOWN THE CORRIDOR)

{Novel, page 113}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

Just before Ace and Mackenzie enter the observatory, there is a short scene
on TV in which the Doctor talks to a beetle about things 'getting out of
control'. Curiously, this segment does not appear in the original edit (or the
novel).

PART THREE

The recap is reduced from 1.27 minutes on the tape to only 27 seconds on TV.
This brings the extra footage total down to only 2.13 minutes.

After the Doctor's line, 'We'll talk':

(MACKENZIE MOVES OVER TO THE STUDY DOOR. LIGHT GESTURES AND THE BOLTS SLIDE
ACROSS LOCKING THE DOOR. MACKENZIE TURNS TO LIGHT)LIGHT: Nothing leaves until I have explanations.

{Novel, page 123}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

The scene which begins with the Doctor's line 'How many more times...' was
originally transposed in order with the following scene which begins with
Josiah's line 'Nothing will delay my plans...' That scene has an additional 26
seconds at the end, after Josiah's line 'Not as much as you'll enjoy sending
her, my dear':

SMITH: And Redvers Fenn-Cooper?REDVERS: Redvers kicked over his traces and lost himself in the bush.
Lord knows if he'll ever find his way out again.SMITH: And your other quest, Redvers?REDVERS: I can't... recall. The heat haze is dazzling.SMITH: I need you, Redvers. Stay out of trouble. We have a royal
appointment to keep. (LAUGHS)

{Novel, page 127}

After Light's line 'No sooner had I finished than it all started changing':

LIGHT: New species. New sub-species. Evolution running amuck. I had
to start amending my entries. Oh, the task is endless.

Continues with the Doctor's line 'That's life.'

{Novel, pages 124-125}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

Between Light's line 'No. This is not Earth. It cannot be!' and the entrance
of the maid with the soup tureen:

LIGHT: Where are the ice fields? The proboscis pachyderms and the
horse-tailed forests?

This line is an interpretation of a patch of slightly indistinct dialogue
which does not appear in the novel or script book.

After Gwendoline's line 'Come away with me to Java!':

(LIGHT STARES DOWN AT THE DEAD MAID. HE BENDS OVER HER, ENSHROUDING HER BODY
WITH HIS CLOAK. THERE IS A FLASH AND THEY BOTH VANISH. MACKENZIE ENTERS THE
HALLWAY JUST AS THEY VANISH. HE LOOKS UP THE STAIRS, AND SEES MRS PRITCHARD AND
SOME MAIDS DESCENDING)MACKENZIE: Lady Pritchard. I've been wanting a word with you. Now
perhaps we can sort, this business out...
(THE MAIDS MOVE IN)MACKENZIE: ... over a pot of tea?
(AS MRS PRITCHARD TURNS ON HIM HE DASHES UP THE STAIRS. MRS PRITCHARD HANDS ONE
MAID A MACHETE)MRS PRITCHARD: Dispose of that specimen immediately.
(THE MAIDS CHASE AFTER THE INSPECTOR)

This cut scene makes sense of MacKenzie's next scene where, just before he
is killed by Light, he says the place is 'a mad-house!'

After the above scene:

(ACE LASHES OUT AT GWENDOLINE WHO IS ARMED WITH CHLOROFORM)ACE: You're a right vicious little Victorian, aren't you!
(ACE GETS AWAY, AND GWENDOLINE CHASES AFTER HER)

{This scene appears on the DVD}

After the Doctor's line 'Just in time for dinner':

(THE DOCTOR HOLDS OUT HIS ARM FOR CONTROL, WHO ACCEPTS IT)

{Novel, page 143}

After the above scene:

(AN EXTERIOR SHOT OF THE DARK HOUSE. A WHITE FIREBALL SHOOTS OUT OF AN UPPER
WINDOW AND ZOOMS AWAY INTO THE NIGHT SKY)

{Novel, page 144}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After Josiah's line 'Light will come!', an additional 21 seconds:

(LIGHT MATERIALISES IN AN UPSTAIRS ROOM. NIMROD WATCHES IN AWE)LIGHT: It is still changing, seething. Every plane and crevice crawls
with life. But I recognize the stench of its over-ripe infested carcass.

{Novel, page 145; scripts, page 134}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After Light's line 'I have decided Earth's future':

LIGHT: We must collect items from the ship. Follow me.
(LIGHT THEN VANISHES, AND NIMROD STARES AT THE STONE FIGURES ON THE BED)

{This scene appears on the DVD}

Between the Doctor's line 'Myself mostly' and Josiah's 'The British Empire
is an anarchic mess!':

DOCTOR: But you're not really Empire material are you? Look. Your
background's a bit dodgy and Light wouldn't be amused.ACE: And neither will Queen Vic!

{Novel, page 150}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After the Doctor's line 'A very big explosion, very soon' and the group run
for the lift: